I sent this email to my house rep. Other EV owners are free to copy and paste this and change wording as needed. Let’s get this regressive BS changed.
I recently purchased an EV and was required to pay an ‘Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fee’ upon renewing my vehicle registration. In this pivotal moment where domestically-manufactured EVs and batteries represent a huge opportunity for Georgia in terms of jobs and economic impact, it is extremely counterproductive to impose an additional fee on EV owners. As Kia, Hyundai, and Rivian bring vital jobs and opportunity to the state through EV manufacturing, Georgia is sending the wrong message to EV owners that they are not welcome or appreciated for their personal financial investment in this budding technology. I understand that the purpose of this fee is to fund road repairs due to the weight of EVs and the fact that EV owners do not pay a tax on gasoline. However, we pay taxes on electricity when we charge at our homes as well as when we utilize public chargers. If the weight of EVs is the primary concern, perhaps all vehicles regardless of fuel type should pay an annual fee if they gross over a certain weight. It is doubly regressive to impose the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Fee on EV owners when the Georgia gas tax has been repealed for the majority of 2023.
it’s literally call “alternative fuel tax”, and then they say “it’s because it’s heavy and hard on the roads”. sounds like a backpedal to me. Just come out and charge a “heavy vehicle tax”, oh wait, the supercab people that voted you in to keep us in the stone-age would whine about it. boo-hoo. I’m fine with subsidizing the road-taxes because I no longer pay for gas, because it makes sense to me. Don’t drive? don’t pay the tax. Drive? pay them. But to blame vehicle weight is basically calling us EV-ers morons while protecting their delicate voters egos.
And the negative extra nailities span so much further than road repair. We need a tax on mass and VMT to take into affect all the huge for harmful aspects that we are now finding out or that people have not paid attention to for so long.